The Tragic Event
Suddenly, there was an Earth-shattering scream from the office and one of the nurses stumbled back through the door. Our laughter dropped to the floor like shards of glass from a smashed mirror as we saw what was on her apron, what was in her hair and on her hands. It was blood, Billy's blood.
We all tore to the doorway, staring in at the scene of devastation that lay before us.
There Billy was, lying on the floor, a piece of glass in hand. Blood was spilling onto the floor from the open wound across his throat, soaking his t-shirt and trousers. He lay still, unmoving, however his eyes remained flickering desperately, terrified.
I could hear Nurse Rached yelling behind the crowd, her and several of the medics barging through the knot of people, finally stumbling into the room. When she saw Billy she turned white and, for all the heart-tearing sadness I felt as they knelt beside him, screaming for the black boys to bring medical equipment and breathing apparatus, I couldn't help but feel a slight glimmer of happiness for I knew that Nurse Rached knew what she had done, she knew it was her fault and that if Billy died she would be the only one to blame. She knew what she had said would affect him, we all did, even McMurphy who hadn't known Billy for that long… but I also that it was his fault to… it was all our faults. If he hadn't had that stupid party, if we hadn't egged him on into that room….
We retreated as more medics came pouring in, many wresting with a series of breathing tubes. A few leaned over to sustain the bleeding while another fed a breathing tube down his throat. You could see his breathing valve inside of his neck, the pale white of the plastic tube showing through the thin layer of skin. I felt sick, sitting back pressed against the wall, watching the staff crowd round Billy, barely holding onto life via the flimsy life-support system, like a flock of vultures picking at a carcass. Soon, they had loaded his thin, shaking body onto a stretcher and rushed him to hospital. The doors to the ward swung closed. The ward was in a state of mania, Cheswick yelling at the terror he had just witnessed, Sorensen constantly washing his hands, trying to rid himself of the horrible picture of the blood. McMurphy simply sat in his chair, staring at the wall like Ruckly. For a moment I thought that he had finally been broken, but then he looked up at me with haunted eyes. He smiled and nodded and I nodded back. Nurse Rached stayed, however. She barely noticed the ambulance pull away from the drive, instead walking up to the rest of the ward
However, when she approached the group, even Ruckly, turned to face her.
"Now" She said, her voice unquavering and calm, like it always was. "I know that what has happened is terrible but I'm sure that he'll be fine, so could we all just calm down and return back to our rotor…."
It was then that McMurphy snapped. He had been standing by the locked window, staring out of it at the rising sunlight, but now he leapt across the room, eyes blazing like fire. He slammed into Nurse Rached, sending her crashing to the floor. His hands were round her neck now, squeezing tightly. She chocked, letting out a warped cry, as Randall repeatedly slammed her into the floor. She was going pale now, her eyes bulging. Suddenly, one of the black boys, who were returning from the driveway, rushed over and pulled McMurphy away from her, leaving her lying there, gulping like a dying fish.
"He was just a kid…" He panted, his anger ebbing away "Just a kid… Why did you do that to him? Why?"
"Because…" Nurse Rached replied, holding her throat painfully "Because it was more than he deserved…"
I could see McMurphy's anger flared again, but the black boys set upon him now, dragging him to his feet and wrestling him along the corridor, through the doors and out of sight. The two boys who had stayed now helped Nurse Rached to her feet and helped her along the corridor and once more through the doors.